Ahmad Adil
04 March 2019•Update: 04 March 2019
CHANDIGARH, India
Amid confusion over the number of casualties in last week's airstrikes by India on Pakistan, the Indian air force chief said Monday they only count the targets hit and not the number of people killed.
“IAF [Indian Air Force] is not in a position to clarify the number of casualties. The government will clarify that. We don’t count human casualties, we count what targets we have hit or not,” Birender Singh Dhanoa said addressing a news conference in the southern city of Coimbatore, local daily Hindustan Times reported.
Last week, Indian jets entered Pakistan claiming to have killed several terrorists inside a training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM), a militant group that claimed responsibility of a suicide bombing that killed more than 40 Indian troops in mid-February.
Pakistan, which has banned JEM since 2002 but is accused by India of providing the group a sanctuary, denied the claim saying the Indian jets had dropped bombs at empty forestland.
While no official figure has been released by the Indian government, ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah was quoted by media as saying that "more than 250" were killed in the airstrike.
Relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbors further soured when warplanes from both sides engaged in a dogfight along the border of disputed Kashmir. India and Pakistan claimed to have downed each other's planes and an Indian pilot was captured.
In a move to quell tensions, Pakistan handed over the captured pilot, Abhinandan Varthaman, to Indian authorities last Friday. He is yet to speak to reporters.
Speaking about the pilot, the air force chief said: “Whether he flies or not depends on his medical fitness. That’s why post ejection, he has undergone medical check. Whatever treatment required, will be given. Once we get his medical fitness, he will get into fighter cockpit."
The U.S., EU, Turkey and many other states have urged both countries to resolve their differences through talks.
The two South Asian nations have fought three wars in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir -- since they were partitioned in 1947.
